#pol!jon

[crimsoncold]

What is pol!Jon?

It a short form tag that stands for political jon. Essentially an explanation theorized and popularized by a number of people in asoiaf/game of thrones fandom in an attempt to explain some of the very questionable if not outright out of character choices that writer's made on game of thrones for Jon Snow in the later seasons concerning his entire storyline since encountering Daenerys.

Essentially its a theory that stands by the idea that the only way Jon's action and choices could make sense were if Jon's interactions with Daenerys and her allies were not of a genuine nature (i.e. he had no genuine loyalty, affection, love, or trust in her or her advisors/army) but rather everything he was doing and saying amounted to him "playing" the game and doing whatever was necessary to gain her help (i.e. her army and dragons) in the war against the dead, but also to keep his family members and subjects safe from Dany's wrath once he brought her north, and potentially even to maneuver/keep himself in a position where he would be close enough to take Daenerys out all together should it prove necessary to eliminate someone who had proved to be an obvious threat (i.e. before she could cause mass murder and destruction via her dragons, or attempt to greviously harm Jon himself or his "siblings"- the latter at least Jon was successful with)

Essentially it holds to the idea that Jon would have had to have clocked Daenerys as a temporarily necessary "evil" but ultimately also a likely a very dangerous person who would have to be carefully managed to keep her on track and from outright imploding and he then acted (i.e. lied) accordingly (honestly not exactly unlike how her own advisors tended to treat her... as someone useful and powerful who they hoped to influence/guide to some desired outcome/ruler while also having to offset her ever present dangerous desire to take the easy road- i.e. screw the consequences wipe out any and all of her "enemies" with dragon fire).

This theory was meant to offer a more sensible and in character explanation for him bending the knee, becoming her lover, him acting as if he believed she really was a good queen or a ruler any different than the several other violent destructive and/or fire-obsessed ones that came before her.

One that wouldn't require the audience to accept that Jon had just suddenly and without explanation had a personality transplant, becoming incredibly foolishly trusting, a exceptionally bad judge of character, and willing to follow and submit to someone who was not just personally disrespectful to him and his family but who also burned countless people alive, is intending to invade westeros, forcefully take independence away from the north, while also directly threatening Jon's own beloved family.

Support for the idea that Jon would never sincerely trust or feel affection for Dany comes from various things such as...

1. The general lack of any affection/passion/happiness being displayed by Jon when interacting with Daenerys. That feels like a very intentional and suspect choice that is unlikely to have solely been the decision of Kit Harrington or simply due to a general lack of chemistry between him and Emilia Clarke. (Storytelling is more than just the performers... other people on set had to have been involved in creating even the possibility of this political Jon narrative)

Just compare scenes of Jon with any number of characters (his Stark siblings- Sansa in particular, Sam or any of his other nightswatch friends, Tormund or even Ygritte) and it seems obvious to conclude that his interactions with Dany lack true happiness/comradery/affection.

2. How many scenes between characters were being framed in the show.. a number of which seemed to point the audience towards the conclusion that something is quite suspect with this whole dynamic between Dany and her Northern and other Westeros Allies.

Serving to foreshadow Dany as an ultimate aggressor and villain for these characters but also currently establishing a noticeable tension- both a jealousy and a sense of isolation...a lack of belonging or trust between Dany and these characters- all of which hints to the idea that Jon was always loyal to the Starks and The North while Daenerys always remained an unaccepted and untrusted outsider, someone that Jon would attempt to placate and manage but never actually endeavored to truly welcome, include, or help integrate into his family or his people (which one may typically expect a man would do for a foreigner lover that he had brought to an unfamiliar place and people to introduce her to his family, his home, his friends, his culture, and his homeland ... that is if said man were actually in love with this woman or had a even a modicum of affection for her).

For evidence see almost any scene with Jon + Sansa + Dany, Dany + Sansa, Dany + the Northerners, Jon + Greyworm.

3. Jon's book or (perhaps to a lesser degree) his established show canon personalities and familial background.

Him having been established as more intelligent and strategic than how he appeared in the later seasons, his protectiveness and nobility, him being at times ruthless, his willingness to compromise his honor when it's necessary for his own life/saftey or that of others... all of which would correspond better to a pol!jon theory than to the idea that he so quickly and inexplicably fell truly in love with, became loyal to, and strangely willingly so passive to a person like Dany.

His previous history and interactions with other villainous characters who choose to use fire for human sacrifice/execution not unlike the way Daenerys does repeatedly (think Stannis or Melisandre, he didn't like them, found their actions abhorrent, he actively worked to oppose them when he could/when it was the right thing to do),

The general history between House Targaryen and Stark (Lyanna's assumed abduction and rape by the brother Dany admires, and the horrific and brutal killing of his Grandfather and Uncle by Dany's King Father, the resulting uprising that Jon's beloved late "father" took part in to overthrow said king) which by itself is enough reason for him not to readily trust any Targaryen

That's all without even looking at Dany's own personal actions that indicate she, much like other various terrible Targ rulers/ancestors is also an incredibly dangerous individual (one unwilling to look to and learn from the past, to unlearn the sense of targaryen superiority she was raised with, or accept the reality of her family members/ancestors, a conqueror who strength lies in her military might and her willingness to kill en masse via dragon fire rather than in an interest in say labouring to earn the loyalty and acceptance of westeros, in handling the details and minutiae of ruling, or striving towards improving her general political acuity).

Lastly because his willingness and ability to infiltrate, manipulate, lie to, and otherwise feign going along with until the time is right to "strike" (while still not actually abandoning his original duty or loyalty) to the people who qualify as an enemey has already been established (including ones he- reluctantly or under coercion- engages with in a romantic or sexual relationship) through his dealings with Ygritte and the other Free Folk.

Essentially fans were unimpressed with the choices and explanations from the writers/showrunners and were trying to come up with their own more reasonable explanation for Jon's later storyline (beyond the simple fact that the show's writing quality in general had suffered in the later seasons, and that the writer's seemed to forget that several houses - including the starks you know the unofficial heart of the story- were significant and that GOT wasn't ever supposed to be the Dany & DRAGONS!!!! Show ft. everyone else) which cumulated in this jon as a political actor (i.e. a strategic manipulator who is working on the behalf of the collective good of the north, or really humanity itself) theory.

So considering all these facts (plus undoubtedly some I couldn't recall simply off the top of my head) a number of fans saw that a reasonable or even somewhat satisfying explanation for Jon's later season's arc/storyline had to be pol!jon... though people may vary on how canon they think this theory is.

Some may think it does make considerable sense and accept it as headcanon but not believe it was an intentional decision by the writers- thus it's something that is applicable in fandom spaces but is not actually a canon theory.

Others believe pol!jon was a storyline that was actually originally planned out and initiated by the writers but was one that would ultimately fall off and never be properly or explicitly addressed in the show itself- or even acknowledged behind the scenes.

Explanations for this generally are various (unconfirmed and speculative) theories that it was scrapped because the show had second thoughts because....

a) Perhaps the show wasn't interested in or able to devote enough time to properly focus on Jon's character arc in the last leg of the show (not at all unlike the treatment of several other major characters), so this storyline wasn't explicity kept up

b) Maybe because they wanted to make Dany's downfall some supposed huge exciting twist for the audience and thus could no longer have an established heroic and generally liked character explicity be shown as as treating Dany as a villain so far in advance from her downfall as it could raise questions on Dany's ultimate role in the series potentially ruining their oh so amazing twist,

C) More cynically speaking it could have been from a desire to avoid any early on backlash from the large, very invested, and profitable, dany-stan/targ centric/jonerys part of fandom who were banking on a "happy" ending with Dany successfully taking power, being accepted in westeros (and the north with Jon as her consort), making for a glorious return of the dragons and a full targ restoration in Westeros with good queen Dany who would be beloved by all (regardless of the atrocities she enacts with her wmd on those she deems her enemies or any potential Nephews whose claim to the IT would supersede hers).

Having an explict pol!jon story being properly built up over the later seasons would certainly make it harder to sell that fantasy for the die hard dany/targ fans and could have meant viewship would have suffered...(i.e. there would be enough potential backlash coming from the finale what with Dany's down fall and Jon's role in her death... why risk having any prematurely which could effect earlier ratings/reviews/viewership/etc. when instead they could scrap what remained of that storyline and keep targs stans and targ favoring HBO staff happy for a little while longer)

... or

D) perhaps pol!jon was a halfheartedly planned out and clumsily executed storyline that would become abandoned as an extension of the writer's getting cold feet around the idea of a Jonsa romantic pairing (this may seem a stretch but I find there are some compelling arguments that the show may have been in the know of a book!jonsa endgame and even considered having a show!jonsa endgame only to abandon what they deemed too unpopular a pairing.

Pol!jon is something that would have enhanced the Jonsa undertones that remained present in the show .... i.e. such a theory could amplify the canon strange tension/jealousy exhibited between the three characters as well as the canon aspect of Dany being a threat to Sansa's safety being brought up several times ultimately adding further motivation for Jon to assassinate Dany... all of which would have then been paired with the explicit fact that Jon never felt actual loyalty or love for Dany if the show had confirmed pol!jon... this might have leaned too hard in the direction of jon and sansa as a potential romantic couple an idea that the show was not exactly fully committed to exploring or implying

[sherlokiness]

Ned "the lies we tell for love" Stark+ Jaime "the things I do for love" Lannister = Jon "treason for love" Snow

[c-sand]

Yep, Jon is going to use, abuse, and exploit Dany who is likely going to be pretty damn crucial and key in saving Westeros from becoming zombies...

I saw this from a pol!jon anti. I didn't deliberately look for it but it was in the tags. Where in Pol!Jon did we say Jon was gonna use, abuse and exploit Dany? Dany and Jon will both get what they want from the relationship. Dany will get the North's support so she could sit her ass on the IT. Jon would get the dragons which is the sole reason he will come to her for. They will be using each other. It's also in her best interest to help the North as self proclaimed Protector of the Realm. That's her job.

If they happen to fuck while on the mission so what? Daenerys was happily fucking Daario even when she already had a husband. What makes Jon different from Daario? I doubt Jon will make promises of love to her. It will be her fault if she thinks what they have is true love. Val with silver hair was the only one who tasted the sweetness. Jon was all cold.

Not everyone who loves her, of course, but (from my experience) a lot of people who do, seem to be of the opinion that if someone isn't worshipping the ground she walks on -- isn't bending over backwards in their support and love of her -- then they automatically fall into the category of "is using, abusing, and exploiting her!!" In the foundation of Pol!Jon, by nature of not truly supporting her, morally, and just engaging in what she wants in order to save the North (and all of Westeros) he's an active enemy. Even though, if done properly, he is still -- at it's core -- an ally. Albeit an unenthusiastic one.

We have no clue what's going down in the books, really, but if it's anything in tune with the show... she wants him? Everyone on that island is obviously pushing him into it and he has a brain? Give her what she wants, get what he wants. Simple. Is that using her to achieve his goal? Technically. They're using each other, in that regard. But, I also feel like it's less of using her and more of giving himself to someone who morally disgusts him, if it supplies the help he needs. And whether she likes it or not, the help he needs helps her, as well. She can't rule over a continent that's been decimated by the dead. If everything were to go her way, she's really getting the winning end of the deal.

She's getting help from the North for her fight, because Jon's honoring his agreements to her. She's getting the seven kingdoms (not really, because she's not winning the throne and actually ruling, but in her mind, play along) alive and well enough -- living people to horribly rule and destroy the lives of on her own terms. She's getting to have Jon, who she doesn't even try to hide her desire for.

In this pairing, while they're both using each other to get something that they need, the terms 'use, abuse, and exploit' more accurately describe what she'd be doing to him. The fact that Jon would even be in a position (AGAIN, good god) to have to use his body to appease someone is sad. He's also below her in the power pyramid scheme (to her and her people's eyes, at least). On the show, we literally watched her threaten him and his actual loved ones and try to force more sexual encounters between them. Manipulations all around, on her end. Abusive and toxic and bad. And his crimes against her were literally.... slept with her, because she wanted it? Not verbally declaring his love, because he literally doesn't love her? Ooh evil.

(I will say, though, to me it's not a so what lmaoooo I do not want my boy near that women. And the fact that he literally has to psych himself up, outside of her room, to knock on the door? That man did not want to have sex with her, he just knows he has to give in, and that makes me sad. I do not think Jon and Dario occupy the same sort of space in relation to her.)

[esther-dot]

I’m sure you’ve been asked this a million times, but is there a specific meta (or metas) that you feel sufficiently explain the pol!jon theory?

Kit's face.

Obviously, that's kinda a joke, and I'm gonna link more stuff for you, but to me, that is one of the most compelling arguments for it. Not merely because he failed to communicate love in his scenes with Dany (although that's true), but because, there are a hundred other emotions he was conveying in their scenes that we have to ignore or deny if we're to accept that he was enraptured with Dany, trusted her, or thought she would be a good queen. If you look at that gifset, in many pivotal scenes, he's torn, worried, disappointed, afraid. All sorts of emotions that simply don't fit in with the "fool in love" storyline.

Another of my favorite posts on the subject is this gifset in which D&D create parallels between Dany and LF, JonDany/LF&Sansa, some, or all of this, clearly intentional. Or this parallel from s7 that uses repetition of a line to indicate, Jon and Dany are not friends, they are in fact, opposing forces. Or this scene in s8 showing us that Grey Worm doesn't trust Jon, which again, is saying, Jon isn't as loyal as he's supposed to be. I mean, I knew that, but again, it doesn't fit with the story. Those speak to D&D’s plans, things completely beyond the actor’s control.

I'm linking a number of gifsets right off the bat because what they chose to put on our screens is more compelling than the words I use to try to argue my opinion. For example, this gifset of Sansa being the power in the North, look at who Jon (nonverbally) recognizes as the person he should show deference to. It's a weird detail that we know they orchestrated to show a specific thing, but again, it doesn't fit with Jon being a Dany convert or believer in her status as their true queen.

ANYWAY, far as I can tell, everyone had a different version of the theory, some of which, I didn’t like much, some of which, I still think are the best explanation of what I watched, but this gifset is basically the summary of it. Jon heard Sansa, he purposed to be smarter, and was unwavering in his loyalty to the North. Simple as that. This, I think, is the meta that best explains the political Jon storyline in s7. There were many wonderful metas on this, sadly, many of my favs are no longer accessible because bloggers deactivated (my pol!jon tag has some posts in it still), but basically, I think it was an interpretation that showed more respect for Jon and Dany.

Dany sliding into paranoia and isolation is something they tried to speed run in s8, and it was presented as a kind of "madness," but if Dany was right, that Jon wasn't loyal to her, that she didn't have love, it's a more sympathetic story for her, as well as a darker but more coherent story for Jon. It reminds me of Aerys and how he was "paranoid" in the end, but we do have lines that sound as if, yeah, people were wanting to dethrone him (potentially even his son), which in no way justifies the horror he wanted to unleash, but does create a more nuanced scenario, something Martin is very fond of.

Dany realizing the person she trusted can't be trusted could have been (I thought was) a critical moment in her choosing fear as her path to power in 8x05, and I didn't think it served her well to pretend that was all in her head when it clearly wasn't. I wrote this post finale to explain my thoughts on show Jon, what happened to him, the parallels I saw, the meaning behind it.

[tartheanmaid]

pls does anyone have any pol!jon recs im dying over here

[dontbipanicjonsa]

Did Kit suddenly lose his ability to heart-eye or is Pol!Jon actually a thing.

I'm late to the fandom but I just finished S7 and I'm having thoughts.

I'm a reader of the books, and I hadn't watched the show till now because... I suck at watching shows with hour long episodes and more than three seasons.

What made me decide to watch it was the Pol!Jon discourse I found on the Internet.

I know enough about the show to understand how unlikely and out of character this theory would seem to show watchers. At the same time, I fully believe that book!Jon would be fully capable of something like this. But also, even though I do ship Jonsa in the books, I can't deny that Jonerys is.....a big deal. Everyone expects it to happen. It's a highly anticipated pairing and....I just couldn't honestly believe Pol!Jon because it is just so against the general expectation.

So I decided to watch the show. And now I've finished season 7 and I am astounded.

Let me preface this by saying that I went into S7 already disliking Jonerys (sue me) but I still fully expected to have some serious doubts about the validity of Jonsa. I fully expected to be at least somewhat convinced of Jonerys. Even hating the idea of Jon and Danaerys together, I still expected more.

There are a number of things I would like to note here.

First, Jonerys is a romance that is told, not shown. Davos talks about Jon watching Dany's "good heart" (hehe) to tell us Jon is attracted to Dany. But then Jon immediately dismisses it- and not in a way that looks like he's deflecting. He's not only dismissing it, he's dismissive of it. His mind is not in the conversation, it is beyond the Wall.

Similarly, Tyrion says (not in those words), "yeah right, and Jon only looks at you longingly coz he wants a military alliance with you". Not sure what I'm supposed to think about that....? First, Jon doesn't look at Dany longingly at all???? Not once. Second, is this line supposed to suggest that Jon is looking at her longingly for a reason that is not desperately wanting a military alliance....? Because we already know that that's exactly what he does want. Wtf do I make of this statement?????

There are other examples, but the point remains. People keep talking about Jon and Dany being into each other, and that is what is supposed to convince us that they are into each other (well yea Dany is) but Jon gives no indication of looking at her longingly, of falling in love with her, of being intrigued by her even. He's a brick wall.

Alright, I'll concede one (1) scene where I saw legitimate attraction on his face for a second- that is the cave scene. Even there tho, it's hard to tell if he's just watching her reaction carefully or if he wants to bang her.

On the other hand, Dany shows that she is into him. Even so, when I say she's into him, I mean she's attracted to him and intrigued by him. I cannot believe she loves him.

Next, I think it's interesting that in the episode before (or was it the same episode?) Jon bends the knee, we have a number of people (Tormund, Beric) talk about stuff like- kings not bending the knee leading to people dying, knowing what's important (the fight against the dead), being the shield that guards the realm of men blah blah I don't remember the exact words. Then he sees the WW and the Army of the Dead (again) and sees a dragon die. And then, the first opportunity he gets, he bends the knee. I want to point out here that the scenes really emphasise on Jon's thinking face after every conversation he has during their little gay party beyond the Wall. They focus on the look on his face again while he's watching the Army. Multiple times. And there's clearly something going on in his head, gears are turning.

One other scene that struck me is the scene where Jon and Dany are saying goodbye to each other (the Eastwatch episode). In the same episode (if I remember correctly) Jon calls them strangers, and then the goodbye scene comes and Dany says to Jon's little morbid joke, "I've grown used to him". Him being Jon. Two things to note here-

One, Jon considers them strangers but Dany has gotten "used to him". Maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's an indication of how the two of them are absolutely not on the same page (about anything).

Second, Jon's face after she says that. It shuts down. Like a door slamming. And then he says that "wish you good fortune in the wars to come" line, which has ZERO romance, or longing, but a whole lot of bad precedent (does that make sense?). Ouch. The thought that occured to me here is that Dany is being somewhat obvious about her feelings, and maybe, just maybe Jon has picked up on it. And that is why he reacts the way he does.

I wasn't sure so I compared the scene with the Jonsa forehead kiss scene in S6, and Jon's expressions after that kiss.

My logic was this- I assume that either Jon has become aware of Dany's feelings in the Eastwatch goodbye scene, or his own feelings for her. One of these assumptions is true. Which one?

If Jon has feelings for Sansa, then his confusion/awareness/discomfort regarding that are seen in that forehead kiss scene. So if Jon has become aware of his feelings for Dany, let's see how these two scenes compare?

My dudes. There is no comparison. Go watch it.

I watched both scenes with sound off, and the difference is insane. Jon looks at Sansa's lips. There's a moment's pause that's full of tension, and then his face shuts in a way, but it's a bit confused, a bit thoughtful.

Jon does not look at Dany's lips. He does not look confused, or thoughtful. This is not a romance.

Side observation- speaking of showing and telling, it's funny how we're shown Jon looking at Sansa's wolf bits, and told that Jon looks at Dany's good heart. Yes I'm talking about boobs but wolf bits and good heart is funnier. We literally see Jon look at the wolf bits twice, talk about it himself, in a completely unnecessary conversation...as opposed to being entirely dismissive of the good heart, even when someone else brings it up.

Back to the main point, one last thing I'd like to talk about is the scene where Jon actually bends the knee (not really). First, there are still no heart-eyes. Definitely not from Jon. Second, it's funny how Jon uses the exact hand-grabbing move that Sansa used on him last season, when she was trying to convince him to do something he didn't particularly wanna do (like he's now trying to do with Dany). This means that

1) he learnt that move from Sansa. He knows how effective it is XD

2) if the Jonerys hand-grab is romance, it stands to reason that the Jonsa hand-grab is romance too. I mean both the grabs are suspiciously similar.

Then, even after Dany "promises" that she'll help the North fight the WW, Jon still bends the knee. I felt both an odd sense of urgency coming from him, and an understandable hesitation. Or maybe that's just me.

Now suddenly, he becomes complimentary of her. But there's something weird about his compliments. They are completely generic. "They'll see you for what you are" and in the later episode, "you're not like the others". Wtf does that MEAN ??

Here's the thing...Jon could have paid Dany a way more specific, genuine sounding compliment after bending the knee (complete with heart eyes). I mean she did just fly over the Wall to rescue him and his men. He could have said more, something meaningful, but he didn't. He bent the knee like a house on fire (that doesn't make sense but you get what I mean I hope) and paid generic compliments. Then he pretended to sleep until she left and then sighed very loudly.

??? Romance??? WHERE????

Then the dragon pit. Heart-eyes still missing.

Then the sex scene. What do I say? Lol.

No really. There are no heart eyes even during the sex scene. Honestly, idk what that face was. Not in love for sure.

Another side note- Arya and Sansa have talks while standing in the same place where the forehead kiss scene happened (wtf do you call that place again, the bridge.??) But no heart eyes. No lingering looks. There is no incestuous gay love between them, I can say for sure. All it does is prop up the odd incestuous vibes of the Jon Sansa scene in that same place.

ANOTHER side note- goddamn but does Sansa talk about Jon a lot.

Edit: I'm sure most of this stuff has already been discussed in other metas. My purpose here is only to put down my first thoughts after watching the season.

[chispas-and-broken-bindings]

I just say your tags on the gifset of Jon looking at Dany like *that,* and I'm super curious what you imagine the finale would have been pre rewrite. Did they just add in the Tyrion convincing Jon to kill D scenes? Might they have explicitly confirmed pol!jon or sacrificial!jon in some version? Do you think there was ever a version in which Jonsa was canon? I can never make up my mind about what they changed/exactly what happened, only that something did.

Warning. This answer is all over the place. I think they cut some scenes from episodes prior to the finale, but the finale feels the most butchered (though I think we’ll never know and I probably sound like a total crackpot). 

I really think they were going hard for pol!jon during the filming of season 7 and it almost feels like they started doubting that strategy in post-production. Or maybe not, and they thought that the dark!Dany turn was obvious enough in that season that they didn’t need to make pol!jon explicit then, and they could have that be the big reveal of season 8. 

But of course, the general audience didn’t pick it up. So, I think they for sure started doubting the pol!jon shift when they realized how badly most viewers interpreted season 7 and D’s character arc… so maybe when they started putting together the season 8 scenes, they didn’t think they could pull off both Dark!D and Pol!Jon in a way that was palatable to most of the audience, especially when the audience wasn’t primed in the correct way to view Dany as the Big Bad™. 

I think they correctly anticipated the blow back about what a bad look it would be for Jon Snow to have purposely manipulated D within a romantic relationship and then go on to kill her when most viewers went into season 8 seeing her as a protagonist, and that a lot of viewers (including many women) would hate it. They weren’t going to pull away from D breaking bad, since the groundwork was too obvious and that was ALWAYS where her story was heading, but I think they lost faith in their ability to reveal pol!jon. I think they made the mistake of not making Jon’s political movements clearer in season 7 and I think from the very beginning they weren’t very good at making Jon a morally grey character. They didn’t commit to it early enough. He is far more grey in the books than they ever made him in the show, and that hurt their ambitions for pol!Jon quite a bit, I think.  As much as I love subtext, it was too much subtext in season 7, especially for an audience that couldn’t even pick up dark!Dany (even though it was hammered in EVERY SINGLE SEASON). 

I realize I haven’t even started answering your actual question. 

I don’t know what they actually filmed (obviously, lol), but I think they started season eight filming with the intention to make pol!jon and maybe jonsa explicit. The pre-season setup was already there, and then when you look at the first half of season 8, there are too many things that don’t make sense if that wasn’t where they were heading. The Jon/Sansa scene in episode one (was that ep 1?), jealous Sansa at the feast, and then even the Tyrion/Sansa conversation on the ramparts all point to Jonsa (though I suspect the Tyrion/Sansa conversation was a last-minute addition too).  

I’m less frustrated by the lack of explicit Jonsa than I am about the butchering of the pol!Jon plot. The pol!Jon plot was sooooo good. It completed the Stark arc. It was the answer to all of the Stark men who died for honor in the south. It made contextual sense. But...I can also imagine the many, many think pieces that would have been written screaming misogyny and sexism. LOL. 

Those got written anyway. 

I don’t think they inserted many scenes. I think it was more that they cut scenes or left scenes out. I think they cut stuff out of Jon revealing his parentage to the other Starks. That scene felt only half-finished and the transition was so odd. I definitely think the scene where Tyrion convinces Jon to kill Dany was added at the last minute. It made no sense, especially not after the Arya and Jon conversation about Dany being a killer and Jon telling Arya to wait for him outside the city… like what?

I also hope that they filmed something better then the dragon pit scene where Bran becomes king and Tyrion becomes Hand. I hated that scene so so so so so so so much. It was so sloppy and bad. That and the Tyrion/Jon scene felt the most out of place. Those are the two I suspect were added and maybe the Tyrion/Sansa scene in the previous episode. 

It’s harder to figure out what may have been cut, but if I could guess anything,I think they scrapped part of Arya and Jon’s reunion in the godswood (that Sansa conversation was very strange and stilted and if they were going to make Jonsa explicit, a hint there would work) and I think they cut short the scene where Jon revealed his parentage to the other Starks. That is where the pol!Jon reveal makes the most sense, especially right after the scene where he backs D and not Sansa in the war room. If they filmed that scene, it also makes sense that it would have been cut if they decided to scrap pol!jon. Its hard to imagine them intentionally cutting short the parentage reveal to the people it would matter to most (besides D) unless most of the footage was unusable because of last minute change in direction. 

I’m not sure any of my ramblings make any sense, but thanks for the ask @esther-dot

[christinapotter09]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Summary:

Bells tolling surrender. The city and the palace collapsing under dragonfire. Children, little children burnt. A crime made untimely. A world saved. A Wolf becomes no one again. The true Heir to the Iron Throne is no more, just like the throne itself. Six Kingdoms under a broken raven that was never to be Lord of anything. The Red Wolf is alone, adorned with the ghosts of her past. The Lone Wolf dies, but the Pack Survives

Bran’s gasp was sharp, choking him, he struggled to draw breath as Meera rushed close to him. ‘We must reach Winterfell the soonest.’ Bran for the first time sounded full of emotion, one emotion in particular: despair.

Bran arrives in Winterfell the moment a raven from Dragonstone reaches Jon and Sansa, carrying a summon with a demand to bend the knee. The secret of Jon's birth now becomes valuable information while the King in the North and the Lady of Winterfell are surrounded by enemies. Jon wishes to win the Battle for the Dawn by any means necessary, while Sansa wants for both of them to end this War victorious in a Game that you win or you die... there is no middle ground.

Jon couldn’t be smarter, he failed Sansa whenever it came down to her, when it came to unworthy men lusting after her.

He would protect her, he had promised.

Cousins

‘Touch my sister and I’ll kill you myself.’ Jon growled the warning, spitting the word “sister” for the lie it was now, an agonizing moment later; he released Baelish from his grasp. Leaving him behind to catch his breath, cough and ponder on the warning while Jon returned to his cousins, to his only family.